MALDEF in the News

Yet sitting in the wood-paneled room beneath the ceiling of bright stained glass were just the principals and their families, a smattering of supporters, and Crystal Dillman, with a lawyer from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and a representative of the Mexican consulate, Enrique Luis Sanchez. Their presence was often mentioned by locals as an example of outsiders who came to taint their town.
"I think by then people were scared and that's why we had to be here," said Gladys Limon of MALDEF. Limon says MALDEF sent her to monitor the prosecution, which she found to be lackluster.

"She's a powerful role model," said Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "She will have an effect on Latino children akin to the effect that the election of the first African-American president has had and will have on African-American child care, and that's encouraging. And for all of that she deservedly gets treated like a rock star."

"This is what our family, friends and ongoing supporters have prayed for," said Crystal Dillman, who had two children with Ramirez, in a statement released by the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund. "I truly believe in my heart that Luis can now rest a bit more peacefully knowing that these criminals and accomplices are being charged."

“We were extremely disappointed in the complete failure of justice when the local jury completely absolved the defendants of the most serious charges,” said Gladys Limón, a staff lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which pushed for federal involvement in the case. “We now feel these tragic injustices will finally be vindicated.”

MALDEF launched its national effort to educate the Latino community on the importance of full participation with the 2010 Census at Saturday’s press conference. As part of its campaign, MALDEF will host training sessions to educate local residents on how to reach out to those in the community unlikely to fill out their census form out of fear of immigration issues or other related concerns, such as legal problems.

However, in Texas, LEP students tend to be the most struggling category. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund highlighted this problem with a lawsuit accusing the state of not doing enough to help the students, especially at the secondary level.

Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, has said he fully expects work on rewriting immigration law to begin in Congress next year. But he also said Congress may have to deal with it on a piecemeal approach if Democratic leaders delay because of the elections and a hostile political climate.

Attorneys for the Phoenix law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, lead counsel in the case involving several racial-profiling victims, have made numerous requests for such documents in letters to Arpaio's lawyer Timothy Casey, and in court pleadings. (Note: The ACLU and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund joined Steptoe & Johnson in an amended complaint against the MCSO last year.)

At a Capitol Hill briefing today, the Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE), a diverse coalition of national civil rights groups addressing education quality and equality, urged Congress and education leaders to implement federal education policies that increase access to expanded learning opportunities for high school students and students of color.

"It looks like the state may be walking itself right into another lawsuit," said David Hinojosa, an attorney for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), which was part of the most recent school finance lawsuit against the state that resulted in the 2006 changes.

"I've known her since she arrived in Los Angeles, before she was famous," says David Damien Figueroa, communications director for the Mexican-American Legal, Defense and Educational Fund, which honored Longoria Parker for her work with Latino causes Thursday. "She has always been an activist. Sometimes people become famous and leave the activist person behind; Eva is an activist who just happened to become famous. She has raised millions and millions. There has never ever been any Latino-American who has raised as much."

Tom Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the leading Latino legal organization, said, “The Latino community can and should celebrate that Lou Dobbs is no longer on CNN.”